COLORADO COTTON CANDY AND BIG BUNCHES OF BEADS!

Here are two balls of finished hand spun. The large gray one is a little less than half the Icelandic I've been working on for a year. The little variegated ball is the "Colorado Cotton Candy" I spun up this week. See pics below for the "Cotton Candy" in the various stages of construction--reverse order! I am starting a lace scarf today using these two together as contrasts. Pictures coming in the future!

I'm excited to share pictures of the paper bead necklaces I've been making. I gave many away as Christmas gifts. This little craft is addictive! I can't wait to see what a magazine page will roll up to be! So far, my favorites are pages from gardening catalogs! Very bright!

Next is the finished yarn from the roving I named, "Colorado Cotton Candy." I purchased this pretty bit of fluff on our last trip out west in September. I thought it looked like cotton candy. Sorry, for all you fiber enthusiasts, I think I threw the tag away and can't vouch for the exact fiber content, but I remember Merino, silk, and some rayon (the metallic blue thread, I think.)

Here is it in the process of spinning. I am not totally happy with my spinning at this point. I feel once it's plied, my yarn looks too "loose." Any tips? I think this turned out as a fingering weight or sport weight when it was done. There's not much of it and so it will have to be knit along with something else to make a project. I am thinking it will be pretty with a bit of the grey Icelandic I've been working on. I am pretty sure I can see grey Icelandic socks with this yarn as a design in the pattern! Blessings, LORI

OUR CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

Welcome to Christmas in our parlor! The stockings are all hung by the.....piano??? with care??? Well, no mantle or chimney at our house! The tree is right next to the piano.

Our "pencil" tree. We had to go to a skinny tree ever since we moved into the new house. No place for a real full tree. I'm surprised we didn't think about space for a tree when we built this place after living in the Victorian for 10 years and going all out with a huge round 9ft. tree and four other trees elsewhere in the house!

Looking at the tree from this view, you see my fringe curtains that adorn the archway separating the living room and formal parlor. The parlor is one of my favorite rooms in the whole house, though I use it very little. Many of my family heirlooms and antiques are kept in there.

I hope you got to see my paper beads on the last post. I have some amazing pictures of the finished projects coming up soon.

I hope you are all ready for this most wonderful season when we remember Christ's birth! Blessings, LORI

MAKING BEADS!

More of what I've been up to--making paper beads! Yes, paper! I learned how to construct beads from paper and have been enjoying this little craft now for the last month or so. I have an egg carton just filled with these potential necklaces! Round ones are the biggest challenge for me so far.

Beads from grocery sack style paper. Various pages from magazines. If you work with a page of a predominant color, you will get beads with a "marbled" effect of that color--these green ones, for instance.

This is a view of the larger assortment--only a few! Here are the first ones I made--still my favorites! They are a beautiful black/rose color and look like cloisonne. I have begun to string them with other beads for a necklace. The way I do the beads, several can be made from each page of a magazine. These particular beads were from a colorful picture of pink flowers in a garden catalog.

It's a fun hobby, but now every magazine and piece of paper looks like a potential necklace to me ! I have a hard time, especially at work where I am in charge of the periodicals. I view every page with a critical eye, wondering just how it will roll up into "jewelry!" It keeps me constantly experimenting with color schemes! Blessings, LORI